Settlement Distance, in practice

[Europa Victrix]

Certain Civs love to fill gaps in your borders with their own throwaway cities and you can guess how infuriating that is.

 

[DrTrifonius]

I tend to settle pretty close. The jump-settle method leaves you vulnerable, and while I have found the AI surprisingly willing to give captured cities back, that's still a huge delay on that city. The only exception I make is the Great Zimbabwe. If you can catch 7-8 resources you are set for gold for the rest of the game. But again, more cities equals more trade routes, equals more gold and a more badass producyion hub at your trade center.

 

[ShinigamiKenji]

If the optimal route seems to be closely packing together your cities, what makes you settle further apart? Maybe a new strategic resource you don't have, but what else? Luxuries? Bonus resources? Fresh water? Hills? Mountains? And lastly, at what stage (fresh water seems important early game for your first cities, but almost irrelevant after Neighborhoods, for example)?

Edit: Also, I never seem to build cities directly on the coast, since it leaves me with less land for improvements/districts/wonders. Is there any reason I should put a city on the coast apart from the Sailing Eureka?

 

[ansa]

Certain Civs love to fill gaps in your borders with their own throwaway cities and you can guess how infuriating that is.

Oh, I AM SORRY, I haven't noticed you city was so close!

 

[Bigv32]

The only limiting factor to the number of cities is the player. There is only so much micro management between trade routes and city production that a person can do.

My first set of core cities are usually fairly close together for maximum overlap. However, as the game goes on, I usually spread them out a bit more to save time. Yes i know of the production queue mod and am using it. It is still a pain to have to set 10 projects in a queue lol and do not get me started on Trade Routes.

 

[Shawouin]

I settle close depending on river availability, but I tend to give a little more room for my capitale, like 4 hex before building another city, so I'm sure my capital will have plenty of good tiles to work.

I usually jump settle also, as I go military early on (take the closest capital on turn 50), leaving me plenty of room to expand. If you can find a good choke point at an isthmus or between two mountain range, that's a really good spot. It sure require cautiousness at first, but it get easier as time goes by. Depending on your location defense, you may need only a few units to defend. If they are far off, you just build a road.

I wanted to plan ahead with a cluster of industrial zones, but I ultimately end up building my cities first depending on the terrain, and then pin where my industrial zone will be, and plan ahead for my entertainment.